“You’re in what math class now?” Katarina asked, looking fixedly at Marten.

“Accelerated Trig with PreCalc,” the freshman replied.

“And you said you’re in 9th grade?”

Marten nodded.

Kat sat back in her chair, looking taken aback. “How?”

Marten shrugged. “They wouldn’t let me take calculus.”

“No. How are you in such an advanced class in 9th grade? They usually don’t let you take that until you’re at least a junior. I know they wouldn’t let me,” Kat clarified.

“I guess winning statewide academic competitions says a lot to the school faculty,” Marten replied simply.

Kat gave him a flat look, and turned to Kody. “I don’t like him,” she said.

Kody laughed. “Give him a break, Kat. Just because he’s smarter than you…”

“He is not smarter than me!” Kat exclaimed.

“Mm, yeah, I think he is,” Kody said.

Kat punched him in the arm. “Whose side are you on?”

“I’m not on anybody’s side,” Kody replied, chuckling as he rubbed the arm she’d just assaulted. “I’m just being honest.”

“Well stop it.”

“What, am I hurting your ego?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you are,” Kat replied, crossing her arms indignantly.

Kody shook his head, still smiling, and turned back to Marten. “Just ignore her,” he said. “She’ll get over it.” Kat harrumphed. “So have you always gone to Raresyde?”

Marten shook his head. “No, I moved here in seventh grade. Used to live in Pittsburgh.”

Kody raised his eyebrows a bit. “Really? Well, I’m glad I’m not the only transfer in.”

“Eh, I’ve still been here a few years,” the freshman replied. “At least I’m kind of used to the place.”

“I suppose,” Kody said. “It does seem like it takes some getting used to.”

“Definitely,” Marten agreed. “This school is—“ he stopped mid-sentence and looked over to the end of the table. “Umm…can we help you?”

Kat and Kody turned to see who he was talking to. At the end of their table there stood a girl. Long, pin-straight black hair, a small frame, and wearing a simple, almost old-fashioned ankle-length dress. She jumped a bit at Marten’s words, hiding behind the clipboard she was carrying. “Uh-umm…” she stuttered. “I-I was wondering if any of you w-would be interested in joining, um, the, um, the Ski Club…”

“Isn’t a bit early in the year for Ski Club?” Kat asked. “It’s barely fall.”

The girl shrunk back a little. “We—we’re trying to get an early start this year…to get organized…” she mumbled almost inaudibly.

The other three looked at each other and shrugged. “Does the ski club include snowboarding, too?” Kody asked.

The girl nodded demurely.

Kody considered it for a minute. “Let me get back to you on that,” he said. “How long do signups go?”

“U-until Friday…” she replied.

“Okay,” Kody said. “I’ll think about it and let you know later. What’s your name?”

The girl looked a bit startled, and shuffled her feet nervously. “Uh, it’s Krysten. Krysten Stanton.”

Kody smiled. “Okay, Krysten. I’ll come find you if I decide to join. Anyone else?” he inquired, looking at Kat and Marten.

“No thanks,” Marten said. “Not really an athletic person.”

“I have better things to do,” Kat said with a huff.

Kody shrugged. “Alright, I guess I’m alone here. See you around, then,” he said, nodding towards Krysten. She nodded quickly in return, then turned and scurried off.

As she disappeared, Kat looked curiously after her. “Stanton…” she mumbled. “Where have I heard that name before?”

“Probably a lot of places. The Stantons are one of the wealthiest families in Ariesville; one of the wealthiest in Pittsburgh, even.”

Kat and Kody turned to Marten. “That so?” Kody inquired, raising a curious eyebrow.

Marten nodded. “Yeah. They’re pretty well known. They’ve tried to buy the Steelers from the Rooneys a few times. And…they, uh, sponsored one of the academic competitions I won last year,” he added, looking slightly embarrassed.

Kat rolled her eyes. “That figures. All hail the freshman genius.” she grumbled.

Marten grinned sheepishly, and Kody just laughed at both of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So what’d you think?” Aria inquired as they exited the movie theater.

“It was the same as the rest of those movies,” Kat replied. “Dull, unrealistic, and the main girl makes me ashamed to be a teenage girl, she’s so pathetic. And then there was the fact that the guy was a vampire just to give it some extra drama; how overdone.”

“I thought it was cute,” Aria disagreed. “In a sick, twisted sort of way. I mean, you have to give them credit for doing what they do for love.”

“No I don’t,” Kat replied simply. “Of course, being experienced with that kind of ridiculous excuse for a relationship, I guess you might have related more.”

“Hey, Jeremy’s not that bad,” Aria defended.

“He’s an asshole,” Kat said.

“Only sometimes.”

“Only all the time.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “If you say so,” she said, opening her car door and climbing in. “But if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna drop you off at your house so I can go meet the asshole.”

“Sure,” Kat agreed. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Aria pulled out of the parking lot and started down the road.

“Hey, Kat?”

“What?”

“We’re going to see the sequel when it comes out, right?”

“Oh, you know it.”